I also got at least a few years, from age 4-7, on a farm in the coastal foothills of Oregon, just outside the very small town of Gaston. Forest, hills, pastures, streams, and ponds. Deer, raccoon, squirrel, skunk, chipmunks, lizards and salamanders. Strawberries, blackberries, apples, pears, cherries and rhubarb growing wild.
As a mom of youngsters I could not imagine turning them loose in the wild for hours as I was, yet it was a time I cannot imagine living without. We only raised a few calves for the freezer locker, but the neighbor's Clydesdales, Big John and Belle, wandered over during the Columbus Day storm and stayed a few weeks until fences were repaired.